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Tuesday, December 28, 2004

In case you think it can't happen here...
Posted by Jill | 4:05 PM

Maybe the gutting of Social Security really DOESN'T matter.

My spouse, who can sit and watch programs about geology until I am ready to tear off my own head, has enlightened me to the existence of what's called a "caldera volcano" in Yellowstone National Park. You know Old Faithful? That's there as a result of this volcano.

National Geographic offers reassurance that this volcano is in all likelihood dying or no great threat. Others are less optimistic. This volcano his historically erupted about every 600,000 years. It's been 640,000 since its last eruption.

The most recent caldera-forming eruption about 650,000 years ago produced a caldera 53 x 28 miles (85 x 45 kilometers) across in what is now Yellowstone National Park (Figure 2). During that eruption, ground-hugging flows of hot volcanic ash, pumice, and gases swept across an area of more than 3,000 square miles. When these enormous pyroclastic flows finally stopped, they solidified to form a layer of rock called the Lava Creek Tuff. Its volume was about 240 cubic miles (1,000 cubic kilometers), enough material to cover Wyoming with a layer 13 feet thick or the entire conterminous United States with a layer 5 inches thick. The Lava Creek Tuff has been exposed by erosion at Tuff Cliff, a popular Yellowstone attraction along the lower Gibbon River.

[snip]

The current rates of seismicity, ground deformation, and hydrothermal activity at Yellowstone, although high by most geologic standards, are probably typical of long time periods between eruptions and therefore not a reason for immediate concern. Potentially damaging earthquakes are likely to continue occurring every few decades, as they have in the recent past. Eventually Yellowstone will erupt again, but there is no indication that an eruption is imminent or what kind of eruption may come next. For the foreseeable future, the same powerful forces that created Yellowstone will continue to animate this slumbering, but restless, volcanic giant.


So don't put off those home improvements you've been wanting to do! You never know.

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